Q+A WITH SIDNEY

Hi Good2Know Family! I am so excited to introduce you to Sidney. I met Sidney at an event at Elk Cove Vineyard. I was so impressed with her story and knew immediately that I wanted to introduce her to all of you. Enjoy! –Darcell

Hey! My name is Sidney, and I’m into all things fitness, wine, and mindfulness. I was born and raised in California. I went to school at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)-San Luis Obispo. That is when I fell in love with wine! I graduated with a degree in wine and viticulture, and did a harvest on the central coast.After my harvest, Covid put a pause on my travel plans to harvest overseas. So that’s how I ended up moving to Portland! I figured if I can’t leave the country during a pandemic, I can at least travel to another state! I landed a harvest with Elk Cove Vineyards, and that turned into a full-time gig.
I still have dreams of traveling, but for the meantime I am truly enjoying all Oregon has to offer.In my time of being in the city, I was recruited to become an indoor cycle instructor (a hobby I’ve been doing for 8 years), and I have also fallen in love with practicing yoga. Currently I am on my journey to get my certification to start instructing yoga, and hopefully by the end of the season I will have completed my goal.

D: What is your favorite season and why?
S: It’s definitely fall. I am a pumpkin spice girly to the tee. When Trader Joe’s releases all the fall stuff, I’m like “Yes!” Starbucks just released their pumpkin spice lattes.
D: I heard they were doing them earlier. So that’s for you!

D: What is your biggest pet peeve – what gets on your last nerve?
S: I have a lot of them, but my number one would probably be when people know each other and they are acquaintances and they see each other out or they are walking by each other and they don’t acknowledge each other and just ignore each other. Why do people do that? It’s so weird.
D: It’s okay to just say hi.
S: I just don’t understand it.

D: What is the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up?
S: I think it was a veterinarian because I was really into animals when I was younger.

D: What career advice would you give to your younger self?
S: Don’t be afraid to just jump into a new career-something that you don’t know that interests you. Go for it. And then, once you’re in it and doing it, figure out from there if it’s a good fit for you. I think a lot of people-and I did this a lot when I was younger-I would talk myself out of things because I didn’t think that I fit in or I felt like maybe this won’t work. All the “what ifs” in your head. So, I would tell myself to cut that out and just jump in it and do it and see what happens.
D: Good advice because sometimes you overthink it-the things that might happen, that didn’t happen.
S: I really see it in my instructor journey. I spent eight years wanting to instruct, but always thinking “I’m not good enough” “Oh, I’m too shy” And now that I’m on the other end, all I can tell myself right now is I wish I’d started years ago.

D: What’s something you want to learn?
S: There’s so much. I have slowly gotten into mixology. I think because of wine – sensory analysis and seeing how chemicals and things go together to make food and wine pairings go together. And now that I know the science behind it, I want to expand that into mixology and spirits. I think that would be really fun.
D: Talking about pairings with food and wine and drinks. That sounds good. If you need anyone to experiment on, I volunteer.

D: Who are the special people in your life?
S: My mom. My mom is my biggest fan. Every time I’m having a good day, bad day, I call her up. She is always there for me. I think I talk to my mom on average one or two times a day. She hypes me up and vice versa.
D: Love that you can both do that for each other.

D: Do you hit the snooze button or wake up immediately?
S:That’s a good question. I would say I’m 50/50. I wish I could be a person who just wakes up , refreshed and ready to go, but it’s hard.So, two days a week I have to be at work at 6am. I have three alarms set and I try to wake up on the first one. In my apartment, I set a time when all the lights come on-so two days a week, alarms go off and lights all on. It’s very startling, so then I will go ahead and get up. But every other day it’s just snooze.

D: What’s your go-to midnight snack?
S: Currently it’s the spinach and artichoke dip from Trader Joe’s with the blue corn tortilla chips. Have you had it?
D: No, I was just at Trader Joe’s today. I’ll have to try it.
S: During fall season, Trader Joe’s just released the pumpkin and apple hand pies. Put those in your air fryer for a couple of minutes. Sweet and savory.

D: What makes you feel at peace?
S: Meditation. I meditate a lot. Usually I try to squeeze it in every day, but lately I have been slacking. But just having that moment, especially at night to unwind from your day. I also like to journal and just putting the whole day on paper and closing it up and moving on. That is such a peaceful way to start a new day.
D: I started journaling every day during COVID and that really helped me cope.
S: I believe in manifestation. I was manifesting a lot during COVID and I think it was a few months ago,I went back and reread everything I wrote and it gave me goosebumps because everything that I put in this journal is my current state of life.
D: Wow! I love it. Because in the middle of it you don’t know what’s going to happen and then to go back and this is reality now. This is really happening!

D: What is something you are proud of?
S: Being able to have the courage to pack up my whole life and move to a place that I haven’t even visited. Me before this move, I felt like I was very sheltered . I can’t imagine being far from my family and the world was very small. I can only live in California. But making this move and surviving for over two years and now my life up here is amazing . I don’t have any intentions of wanting to move back home any time soon. And just realizing how much I could have missed out on if I didn’t have that confidence and courage to drive me up here. I’m so proud of that because now when I’m in a hard situation I think back to doing that and it boosts my confidence even more. I felt like I really grew into myself and me as a person. I’m so proud of myself for doing that.

D: If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
S: Brussel Sprouts. People think I’m crazy. You can make them so many different ways, so each bowl of Brussel Sprouts seems like a different dish. All the spices and sauce. I purchased an air fryer just to make Brussel Sprouts.

D: What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
S: That’s tough. I’m like an EDM (Electronic Dance Music) kind of girlie and a lot of dance places around here don’t play EDM. So, I’m trying to think of something pop or hip hop. Gasolina, I actually was listening to that a few days ago. I’d forgotten how much of a bop this really is.

D: Is there a product you couldn’t live without?
S: A stationary spin bike. That’s the only form of workout that I do. I incorporate it into almost every day.

D: Tell us something Good 2 (to) know:
S: Do what brings you happiness. You know that cheesy saying, “If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.” That is true across all boards. You have to focus on what you give your energy to because you only have so much energy and we as humans tend to give our energy out to everyone and we wear ourselves really thin. And just remembering to give yourself the same energy and the same respect that you deserve by doing the things that you love.